Abdominal Migraines — Did You Know They Were a Thing?

I wanted to take a moment to talk about migraines today. Did you know that “migraine” is an all-inclusive term for a host of terrible, nauseating headaches?

For instance, my headaches closely resemble migraines, enough that my doctor just calls them by that term. I get headaches a few times a week. I can work with headaches. I can function. I get migraines a couple times a month. Those put me out of commission and land me in the recliner with the heavy meds.

The migraines, technically, are post-traumatic stress headaches, which — as I have been so kindly informed by my doctor — fall into the category of “very unpleasant, would like to reschedule, please.” These PTS headaches begin in the base of my head and travel around, vibrating upward along nerves to the top of my head and downward into my shoulders. Fun!

The more popular kind of headaches have been listed out below. Diamond Headache Clinic sent me this slideshow of common types of migraine headaches, some of which I didn’t even know existed. Like abdominal migraines — some kids can experience these between ages 5 and 9, and they can develop into more severe headaches later in life. What? What?!

The presentation is specifically aimed at diagnosing migraines in children, which is especially important to me because I remember my cousin suffering from migraines when we were kids. No child should have to go through symptoms like that if they can be diagnosed early and prevented — no dark and quiet rooms where they have to lie quietly until the auras fade away. Hell, nobody should have migraine symptoms, period, but specifically kids.

A few years ago I was in the hospital and a rehab center for over three weeks with an extended vestibular migraine. That was one of my worst medical experiences ever! Recently I had severe unexplained abdominal pain/nausea/vomiting that left me in and out of the hospital for two months and was eventually diagnosed as an adult abdominal migraine. I’ve now been diagnosed with four types of migraine and I’d really like the collection to stop there.